Kelowna

A look at some of the hail stones which fell during a freak storm earlier this evening in the East Kelowna area.

Hail nearly as large as golf balls was dropping from the sky in much of East Kelowna and Glenmore early this evening as a freak storm passed over this region about 6:30 pm

Martin McMahon who lives with his family on Todd Road in that vicinity says there will be considerable damage as a result of the brief, but fierce summer storm.

"The hail was so large it was denting the cars," said McMahon. "I'll have to go see ICBC tomorrow. It was bouncing off our windows (house) they were close to breaking.

"It was incredible, I've never seen anything like it'" he exclaimed.

McMahon says his daughter had just left the house to feed their chickens when the storm struck and she had to run back to the house because she was in so much pain.

"She's got black and blue welts on her legs," he said.

McMahon estimated the size of the largest hail stones at about 5 cm around, estimating also that they were just slightly smaller than golf balls.

The extent of the storm is not known at this time, but McMahon is already concerned that orchardists in the east Kelowna area may have suffered a blow because of the storm, with damage likely to the soft fruits like grapes, peaches etc.